Chance Meeting
by worldisyourerster
Summary: Young, fresh from the refuge Jack, runs into sheltered, naive Katherine, and helps her find her mother. Or, when Katherine decided she would rather be free then a snobby rich kid.


**Hello! So this started as a happy little fic about Jack and Katherine meeting in the park but look at it now. Well at least nobody died. THis is sort of a songfic to Little Miss High and Mighty, by Spirit YPC so thats where the lyrics in the beginning are from. Please leave your comments in a review! **

**Disclaimer: Not mine. **

_Were a happy bunch_

'_Cause we got freedom unlike you!_

_You don't know our manner 'cause you're not from the village!_

_Your eyes move right past us when you ride in your carriage! _

_We live so free, a life without money_

_Don't mean we've got nothing, we have all we need!_

Jack lay hidden in the grime of the street, his face covered in soot and dirt. He watched the girls in their fancy dresses glide past him without a second glance. His eyes we drawn to one naive girl about his age who skipped alongside her mother. He watched the way her dress silky blue dress floated, bring color to the dingy street. Her mother smiled serenely at her daughters antic and a pang struck Jacks heart as he remembered his mother. He moved his eyes away from the mother and back to the daughter, whose auburn curls bounced around in the wind. He watched in silence as the girl drifted away from her mother and went to examine a sellers fruit. He watched as her mother glided away, not even noticing that her daughter was gone. So Jack, poor, starving little Jack, gathered his papers in one hand and grabbed the girls arm with the other. The girl jumped several feet in the air, and in her high, screechy voice shouted at him.

" Get away from me!" The girl shouted, Jack shrunk back into the shadow.

" Sorry, it's just, your mother is gone." The girl froze, then turned her head every which way looking for her mother.

" Which way did she go?" The girl asked, panicked. Jack shrugged his soldiers, not wanting to tell her he was spending most of the time watching her instead.

" I don't know, but if you want you can spend the rest of the day with me and my brothers till you find her?" Jack offered. The girl immediately brightened.

" Sure. My name is Katherine by the way." Katherine extended her pale hand out in greeting.

" Jack." Jack took her hand and for once the scars on his back stopped throbbing.

* * *

" Who the hell is she?" Katherine cowered behind Jack at the sight of the tall light hair boy.

" This is Katherine. Shes lost." Jack said, starring the boy right in the eye.

" Who do we have here?" Katherine turned as someone tapped on her back. A boy her age with a mischievous smirk and a cigar perched on his lip stood behind her. " Ain't she quite the little lady?" Jack turned towards the boy.

" Stop it Racer." He mumbled.

" Lost eh? Careful, these parts are a bit shady." A bespeckled boy popped up from behind the boy Jack had called Racer.

" Look at her fancy dress boys!" Racer called. Katherine nervously smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress.

" Hello beautiful.." A short boy flirted.

" Quit it Romeo!" She said, gathering her courage.

" Romeo, eh?" The tall boy laughed. He didn't look as threatening when he smiled. " That's a good one. We might have to use that." Katherine beamed up at him. " Okay boys." He clapped a hand on her and Jack's shoulders. Jack winced visably. " This is Katherine."

" Snobby ain't she? Wouldn't want her to get dirty.." Racer started.

" So chuck her in the mud!" Two boys who looked related chorused. Jack placed an arm protectively in front of her.

" She just wants to be our friend!" Jack said as Katherine nodded eagerly. " She can't help who she is. If she wants to stay with us, what you gonna do to stop her?" Jack said, now standing fully in front of her.

" If she wants to be our friend she should get manners." a little boy with a gimp leg sniffled. " I've seen her before. She looks over us like were nothing. Little we ain't got a nickel."

" You ain't got a nickel Crutch!" Racer teased.

" I will someday. Youse see." Crutchie said, sticking his nose in the air.

" I'm sorry. I'll leave now." Katherine said, heading away from them. From freedom.

" Wait!" Jack called. " What about your mama?" Katherine froze. " I'll still help you find her." Something changed in the boys mind.

" You lost your mama?" Race said, voice shaking.

" Katherine turned back and nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. The tallest boy grinned.

" Come on boys, lets go find this little girls mama!" The boys cheered and Katherine cracked a smile.

" Thank you." She whispered.

" Do what he tells you or he'll give you a shinner." Crutchie whispered to her as she helped him off the ground where he was sitting.

" Thank you." she mumbled again, to someone she had been taught to never acknowledge.

* * *

Jack smiled as the boys hooted and hollered as they dragged Katherine around the streets, trying to find her mother, Katherine smiling all the way. They stopped to sell a few papes here a there, but other then that seemed completely dedicated to the cause. Jack wished he could join in, but he was afraid to rip open the scars that covered his back.

" Come on Jack!" Katherine called smiling. " Boys wait up for Jack!" Jack grinned and jogged up, internally wincing. "You okay?" Katherine asked, concern filling her eyes.

" Yeah." He said, breathing heavily. " Let's go."

* * *

" Hey Katherine, you said your mama was wearing a green dress right?" Racer called from a block ahead of where Katherine walked silently with Jack.

" Yes!" She called back, craning her neck over the crowds.

" I think I found her." Katherine skipped up to Race and the other, where some of the oy knocked her affectionately on the head. Jack smiled as he wondered how only a few hours ago these boys hated her.

" Mama!" Katherine called, as Jack caught up. The women in green turned around, her face twisted into an expression of worry. When her eyes drifted over to Katherine she lit up and gracefully jogged towards her. Jack stepped back as she approached, not wanting to get in the way. " Oh darling, I thought I had lost you." Her mother mumbled as she wrapped Katherine in a hug. The newsies looked around, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot.

" Mama," Katherine started as she pulled away. " These nice boys helped me find you." Katherines mother glanced over at them for the first time, and gave them a look that was a mix of pity and disgust.

" Lovely darling. Let's get along now, Father is waiting." Katherine grinned and waved good bye to the newsies who called out their own farewells.

" Bye little miss high and mighty!" Racer called, waving with a grin.

" Thanks for the new name." The newly dubbed Romeo added.

" Bye Katherine!" Jack called, above the din of the street. " Bye."

* * *

Katherine skipped alongside her mother to lunch, gabbering all the way.

" Hey mama?" She asked.

" Yes dear?" Her mother responded, eyes firmly forward, ignoring her surroundings.

" Is Daddy a newsie like Jack?"

" No Katherine, your fathers job is much more important." Her mother giggled.

" I don't know." Katherine whispered. " I would rather be free like them then important and rich."


End file.
